This is a really busy time for me with one thing going on right after another and my sweet friend Claire from Claire K Creations offered me this gorgeous recipe for coffee and macadamia loaf cake. The Australian Macadamia Society sent Claire a big package of vacuum sealed macadamia nuts and asked her to come up with recipes.

I’m so pleased she is sharing this one with us because I LOVE macadamia nuts. You’d think I was born in Australia, I like them so much. Whether they’re used in sweet or savoury – I’m happy.

Just a little background on Claire. She’s young, gorgeous and has just recently celebrated her first wedding anniversary with her best friend Will. She works on her blog non-stop and produces the cutest videos of her culinary creations. I fell in love with her the first moment I met her. (in a totally platonic motherly way as she’s young enough to be a daughter or dare I say it, my granddaughter?)

Do you fill piping bags like this? I do and when I saw Claire’s video I knew she’d seen it on the net too.

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Hi! I’m Claire from Claire K Creations. Maureen has probably already told our story but we became blogging friends last year (or was it the year before?) and met for the first time at Eat Drink blog in November, although it was kind of like we’d been friends forever. I already loved Maureen but when I told mum I was going to meet her she said ‘oh I like her, she’s the really sweet-looking lady who comments on your blog all the time.’

She was quite right. Maureen is wonderful and I’m very excited to be visiting here today. I was even lucky enough to meet the famous John over Christmas and I think even his missing sweet tooth will like the recipe I’ve got for you today.

Now I’m a bit of a walking contradiction when it comes to food. I don’t really eat fruit but throw it all in a smoothie and I love it. I don’t like bananas but I would never pass up a slice of banana bread or cake and I really can’t stand coffee but bake it into something and I’ll devour it willingly.

When I saw a recipe for coffee and walnut cake my stomach let out a little grumble. It had chosen. I’ve gotten very experimental with my baking lately so after tinkering a little, my version doesn’t really resemble the Women’s Weekly Bake one at all.

I used coconut oil instead of butter (save the butter for slathering on the warm slices), which gives it a pretty tender crumb. Actually I thought it was going to be a failure when I cut into it and it crumbled a bit but then I realized there was a nut stuck under my knife making my dodgy cutting skills even worse. The caster sugar was replaced with brown sugar giving it the glorious golden colour and crunchy crust. Oh and I used wholemeal flour because it makes me think I’m eating something healthy.

You could vary this one by leaving out the nuts if you don’t like them (I will judge you a little though, who doesn’t like macadamia nuts?!) and even add a coffee icing drizzle over the top to finish it.

However you make it, I’m sure you’re going to love it, even if, like me, you and coffee aren’t friends. The combination of the brown sugar, coffee and cinnamon will have you hanging by your oven willing it to bake faster. I loved it so much I may or may not have eaten a whole slice while sitting on the floor photographing it. Enjoy!

If you like the look of this, I’d love you to stop by Claire K Creations (my blog) and check out my other recipes. Thanks for having me Maureen!

Okay back to me. Isn’t that a gorgeous loaf cake? This recipe is a keeper. Thank you so much, Claire!

And yes, I’m very sweet but it’s because I eat so much cake! Follow Claire’s blog at clairekcreations.com, find her on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest too. You’ll be smitten just like I was. With Claire, that smile is real and as they say in Tennessee.. “she’s good people.”